Why iPhone With 1GB RAM Performs Better Than Android Devices With 2GB Or More RAM?

There is a lot of talk right now about Apple’s decision not to throw multiple gigabytes of memory at the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, especially in light of how makers of Android smartphones tend to offer memory upwards of 2GB. Why, when some Android phones have up to three times as much memory, does the iPhone perform so well?

That was basically the same question put to Quora, the social website that gives people a way to ask questions and then have them answered by people who are experts in their respective field. The upvoting system adds a spot of authority tracking to the answers that are provided, and we have a clear winner as far as the question around why Android phones have so much more memory than iPhones.

Enter Glyn Williams.

The response, upvoted by over 2,600 people, included a handy graph and an explanation that involves garbage collection and Java. Basically, Android needs more memory because of the way it handles things.

You can head on over to the Quora question and check out Glyn’s explanation yourself, but what it boils down to is this: Android apps use Java, and as a result Android does something called garbage collection which involves memory being recycled once applications are finished with it. That’s all well and good, and actually performs really well when given plenty of memory to work with. The problems arise when the system is starved of memory.

Using the diagram provided, Williams points out that garbage collectors are at their best when they have a relative memory footprint of 4 or 8. In effect, that means that Android needs 4 or 8 times as much memory as it’s actually using in order to perform its garbage collection duties. Reduce the amount of available memory, and things start to suffer greatly.

So what about iOS? Well, it doesn’t use Android style garbage collection for starters, which means that it doesn’t need all the extra memory associated with Java and Android. Apple designed iOS to need the memory that it’s using rather than have extra memory set aside for something like garbage collection and as a result iPhones don’t need to be packed to the gills with memory chips.

If you’ve ever wondered why those beefy Android phones still stutter when they have a few apps open and you try and open a menu, then this explanation is one, not all, of the reason why.

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At least the Note 4 isn’t a slippery soap in your hand. And just the fact that you prevents the phone from slipping out of your hand with the Note 4 is more premium than having only aluminum on a phone in my eyes.

Daumus

So having more plastic is premium nowadays? On the contrary, i don’t find Iphone 6 slippery at all.

jacks_macs

You are kidding. Just scrolling down this page it chops. Do me a favour and go to your wallpaper selection and scroll down the page. Watch the phone chop and lag 3 or 4 times before you hit the bottom.

jacks_macs

Open spotify and click next track and it takes a good second to register and actually do something. Scroll news feed in Facebook and it chops. Scroll Instagram and it chops. It’s very smooth to open apps but scrolling is super choppy. Really disappointing. Don’t believe me just open your eyes and scroll something.

Fakhrul Islam

I’m not a programmer, so, My question is that “Can Java ever be able to evolve to a higher level where the Garbage recycling will not be needed Or Will Android be ever able to move to another Optimized language?”

victor321

No, Java is a half-interpreted language whereas Objective-C in iOS is a fully compiled language. Java will always be slower. Andriod should drop Java and adopt Gnu C++ – but Google won’t do it – unless Oracle sues or charges for use of Java.

Simon Harris

I’ll think you will find that one of the apps is causing the problem, try quitting them all and try again, I can confirm that, having had a 6 and now a 6 plus, there is never any choppiness or lagging when scrolling around.

Simon Harris

Try Apple’s own silicone case for the iPhone6, best cases I have ever used on any phone including their own premium leather one. No more slipping I can assure you 🙂

KinkyNothing

That’s true, it really stutters on the wallpaper selection screen. On viber as well. And on some other occasions. But still, not nearly as much as android. Love them both for what they are though

KinkyNothing

He’s kinda right though. (both iOS and Android user here)

Robu Eduard

I’ve just gone to the wallpaper selection on iphone… no lag there or anywhere. I recently switched to iphone, a mounth ago, because the lagging on android (samsung s4) was very annoying. I’m very pleased of ios, that’s why i’m curios how it works 😉

Robu Eduard

Really, what kind of useless things need to do beside the ones needed? What does the Android more than IOS, since ios does everying it should.

Robu Eduard

Wrong, i just switched from samsung s4 (2 GB of RAM) to iphone 5s (1GB of RAM) and i don’t have any lag or freze moment on ios, in comparison to those many on Android….

jdh30

Bullshit

BOSSDONMAN .

You’re right. The hardware in tier-one flagship Androids have superior hardware for the most part. However, Apple has far better software optimization, RAM management, and it also included an NAND drive which gives it far higher sequential read and write speeds.

BOSSDONMAN .

Android’s specs are better. The performance isn’t equal, however. Read up on RAM management and Software optimization, something Android still struggles with today.